glossolalia

Glossolalia is fabricated, meaningless speech.

According to Dr. William T. Samarin, professor of anthropology and linguistics at the
University of Toronto,

glossolalia consists of strings of meaningless syllables made up of sounds
taken from those familiar to the speaker and put together more or less haphazardly ....
Glossolalia is language-like because the speaker unconsciously wants it to be
language-like. Yet in spite of superficial similarities, glossolalia fundamentally is not
language (Nickell, 108).

When spoken by schizophrenics, glossolalia are
recognized as gibberish. In charismatic Christian communities glossolalia is
sacred and referred to as "speaking in tongues" or having "the gift of
tongues." In Acts of the Apostles, tongues of fire are described as
alighting on the Apostles, filling them with the Holy Spirit. Allegedly,
this allowed the Apostles to speak in their own language but be understood
by foreigners from several nations.

Glossolalics behave in various ways, depending on the social expectations of their
community. Some go into convulsions or lose consciousness; others are less dramatic. Some
seem to go into a trance; some claim to have amnesia of their speaking in tongues. All
believe they are possessed by the Holy Spirit and the gibberish they utter is meaningful.
However, only one with faith and the gift of interpretation is capable of figuring out the
meaning of the meaningless utterances. Of course, this belief gives the interpreter
unchecked leeway in "translating" the meaningless utterances. Nicholas Spanos
notes: "Typically, the interpretation supports the central tenets of the
religious community" (Spanos, 147).

Uttering gibberish that is interpreted as profound mystical insight by holy men is an
ancient practice. In Greece, even the priest of Apollo, god of light, engaged in prophetic
babbling. The ancient Israelites did it. So did the Jansenists, the Quakers, the
Methodists, and the Shakers.

There is evidence that while speaking in tongues people experience a
sharp decrease in frontal lobe function, the area of the brain that enables
reason and self-control. There is also increased activity in the parietal
region of the brain, which takes sensory information and tries to create a
sense of self relating to the world. Psychiatrist
Andrew Newberg, Director of the
Center for Spirituality and the Mind at the University of Pennsylvania, studied five African-American Pentecostal
women who frequently speak in tongues. As a control activity, Newberg had
the women sing gospel tunes while moving their arms and swaying.*

Newberg gave the Pentecostals an intravenous injection of a radioactive
tracer that allowed him to measure blood flow and "see" which brain areas
were most active during the behaviors. Newberg and his associates published
their findings in the November 2006 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging.
During glossolalia, the part of the brain than normally makes a person feel
in control was essentially shut down. The findings make sense, says Newberg,
because speaking in tongues involves giving up control and feeling a "very
intense experience of how the self relates to [a] god."*

Newberg noted that the glossolalia responses were the opposite of those
of people in a meditative state. When people meditate their frontal lobe
activity increases, while their parietal activity decreases. In meditation,
one loses the sense of self while controlling one's focus and concentration.

The Pentecostal movement seems to have originated in the 19th century,*
although the Biblical basis for the practice is traced to the
Acts of
the Apostles. The practice of Pentecostals differs, however, from what
is described in Acts. Pentecostals utter gibberish and claim that they are
speaking in a language understood by some god
but not by other Pentecostals, but in Acts we are told that those present
not only spoke "with other tongues" but "every man heard them speak in his
own language."

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one
accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a
rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon
each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began
to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And
there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under
heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together,
and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own
language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to
another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear
we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and
Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and
Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and
in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and
proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues
the wonderful works of [some] god. [Acts II; 1-11]

This story is supposed to support the notion that such an event really
did occur and it was prophesied by Joel that this kind of thing would
happen in the last days. There is nothing in Joel, however, that prophesied
that, when the last days didn't come as predicted, plan B would be to wait
1900 years and have a revival and claim that when you speak gibberish it is
a sign that some god loves you.